Opinion: End of local government as we know it

Syrian refugee children sit on the ground in January as they listen to their teacher inside a tent that has been turned into a makeshift school, at a Syrian refugee camp in Qab Elias, a village in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.(Photo: AP File)

It is sobering to learn that Mayor Louras chooses to ignore the wishes of 1,260 citizens of Rutland City who simply want more information and more time to discuss a plan to locate hundreds of refugees to the region.

Like so many of us in Rutland, our alderman, local representatives and our neighbors, I was surprised to learn Mayor Louras was working secretly for months to act on this major initiative. Today I am again asking myself how can this be so? How can an elected official in a small Vermont community act this way? Why was public discussion and debate circumvented?

This is an affront to our finest traditions of small town Vermont, let alone our greater American democracy. At the worst this deception is a cause for many to be suspicious and has divided this close-knit community. And truly if the refugee resettlement initiative is the right thing for our community an in-depth conversation will only bear that out.

In business and land use development we have the most rigorous permit process in the country and officials make double the effort to make sure citizens, neighbors are heard before any project goes forward. In the energy field, there is a Public Service Board and department that oversees an immensely thorough and lengthy process to review siting of new generation resources like solar and wind.

I have a lot of personal experience in these areas as a former executive director of Rutland Economic Development Corp. and as former commissioner of public service.

As public service commissioner I was chairman of the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel and while I knew full well matters related to Vermont Yankee were largely under federal jurisdiction, I still consistently held lengthy meetings in southeastern Vermont to share information with the community and hear their concerns. That’s what government and Vermont are supposed to be about.

As a result of a Freedom of Information Act request of the mayor, I have a body of the emails and communications he had with numerous people during the secret discussions leading to his public announcement and the reaction shortly afterward. There are a few distinct impressions I get from this data:

1) The mayor clearly worked alone with a narrow group of people as he considered refugee resettlement. The unkindest part of the dialog is to read Amila Merdzanovic comments from the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program advising the mayor to not share what he was doing with anyone, especially the public. Words fail to describe my shock at reading that exchange.

2) Leading into the announcement, all the powers that be, governor, congressional offices and many state agencies knew of what was to come while local officials and citizens sat unaware.

3) The mayor received numerous congratulatory messages and some very strongly worded complaints after the announcement. Ironically when he received a strongly worded rebuke by a Mr. Gary Shattuck of Shrewsbury, the mayor was incensed that Mr. Shattuck declined an invitation to meet. Mayor Louras went so far as to say that it was Mr. Shattuck’s obligation

to meet with him. The irony is remarkable.

The mayor is being disingenuous to dismiss the wishes of more than 1,200 citizens because “we do not vote” on who comes to our community. The ballot question is not a yes or no vote on refugee resettlement or who we allow into our community, rather it seeks to pause this initiative “at this time” so the community conversation, information sharing and understanding can be accomplished.

The public process for decisions of consequence we expect has been vanquished by a small group of elected and non-elected individuals.

All Vermonters should be gravely concerned about this precedent of eliminating our checks and balances of power in exchange for the aspirations of a few connected insiders. Regardless of what one thinks about refugee resettlement in Rutland, it’s a dangerous road now paved with more unilateral decisions likely to come. I know we can do better, we need to demand better.

The good people of Rutland City deserve it.

David O’Brien, of Rutland, was executive director the Rutland Economic Development Corp. from 1993-2002 and commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service from 2003-2011.